Midianites

The Midianites were the descendants of Midian, the son of Abraham, and the inhabitants of Midian in what is now northwestern Arabia. The Midians had a religious and political connection with the Moabites, and they worshipped many gods. Moses married the Midianite woman Zipporah, the daughter of Sheikh Jethro, but, after other Midianites seduced many Israelites to their pagan polytheism, God commanded Moses to collect an army and destroy Midian. The Israelites killed Zur, four other chiefs, and all of the Midianite males, and Moses also ordered every woman who had slept with a man to be killed, although 32,000 virgins were kept as plunder. During the times of the Judges, the Midianites oppressed Israel for seven years, so Gideon killed the Midianite princes Oreb and Zeeb and the kings Zebah and Zalmunna. The Midianites were destroyed as the result of the wars with Israel.